Another summer has passed out at Antietam. I shot this image of friends with a very old film camera.  I love the 180mm on my Mamiya C-330. I’m on my second camera body after wearing out the first one which I bought in the 70’s. When you grow comfortable with a camera, it is good to stick with it. I get a lot of teasing from fellow photographers for shooting film. It has taken a long time to get a comfortable with a palette that I love.

I was so lucky with the weather to get this photo. In Cape Hatteras, North Carolina, right near Frisco Pier, I’ve learned to wait for good images. They’re always worth it. On this day, the wind was blowing the tops off of the wave crests and the tide was going out, which created a waveless but stormy space between the beach and the cresting waves. The clouds hung very low, moving out to sea. The raw power of nature in the OBX can be felt…and if you wait long enough, captured on film to be revisited again and again. (With a little luck, that is.)

I love Ektachrome film. If you underexpose the background a few stops and add some flash, the colors really pop. Yes, there are digital backs for my Hasselblad but I still love to hold a chrome in my hands. Because it’s a slide, the “software” needed to see this image will never need an upgrade.